How to transfer a tenancy contract in Dubai

Dubai Land Department has no service that moves an Ejari registration from one tenant to another. What people call a transfer is done in two steps instead: the existing registration is cancelled, and a new tenancy contract is signed and registered in the new tenant’s name. Both steps are ordinary services and neither is expensive.

So the sequence is a closure followed by a fresh registration.

1. The outgoing tenant and the landlord agree to end the contract, and the landlord provides a letter asking for cancellation if the term has not expired.
2. The existing registration is cancelled, free in the Dubai REST app or the Ejari system, or AED 40 plus VAT at a trustee centre.
3. The landlord and the incoming tenant sign a new unified tenancy contract.
4. The new contract is registered, at AED 177.75 online or AED 220 at a centre.
5. The utility account is moved across using the new registration certificate.

The landlord has to be part of this. The cancellation of a live contract needs the owner’s letter, and the new lease is an agreement the owner signs, so a handover arranged only between two tenants cannot be registered.

What this does not mean

None of this makes subletting legitimate. Registering a new contract requires the owner’s agreement, so passing a flat to someone else without telling the landlord does not become official just because the incoming tenant wants an Ejari certificate. Nor does cancelling settle money: cheques already given, the deposit and any rent owed are matters between the parties, and the register does not track them.

Cancellation on its own is covered in how to cancel Ejari in Dubai, and registration in how to register Ejari in Dubai. Deposits, cheques and rent rules are in our guide to renting in Dubai.

Sources: Dubai Land Department, Cancel Tenancy Contract (cancellation fees and the owner’s letter); Dubai Land Department, Register / Renew Tenancy Contract (registration fees). The Land Department’s service list published no tenancy transfer service when we checked on 14 August 2026.